Share

Even before Jon Stewart announced his retirement from The Daily Show, people were touting John Oliver (who guest-hosted the show for a summer while Stewart left to make a movie) as the best possible replacement for him. Stewart’s still on the air, but Oliver’s already giving him a run for his money as America’s comic conscience on his HBO show Last Week Tonight, and over the weekend he proved why once again.

In a segment on Sunday’s episode, Oliver tackled the often horrifying world of online harassment, and focused in particular on how often and how savagely women on the internet are attacked for having opinions about everything from politics to video games. The lengthy segment delves into everything from how ill-equipped many law enforcement agencies are to deal with these attacks to the crippling legal shitstorm surrounding “revenge porn.” It’s sobering and important, and you can hear that in the audience’s reaction, but it’s also not without laughs. In fact, Oliver elected to drive his point home with a recreation of a mid-90s AOL ad, complete with performances by Rob Huebel and Colin Hanks, that will both remind you how easy it is to be horrible to someone online and remind you to re-watch Star Trek: Voyager.